Notes
It is important not to collapse into this pose. The pelvic floor, hamstrings, and gluteals
should act eccentrically to distribute the weight created by the force of gravity through the
whole base of the pose rather than drop right into the hamstring attachment or knee joint.
As with all poses, and more so with complex ones, a wide variety of experiences are
available, depending on each person’s strength, balance, and range of motion.
This pose is categorized as a kneeling pose because that is the starting position, but the
base of support is not actually kneeling. This asana has a unique base of support: the back
surface of the front leg and the front surface of the back leg. This same base, with the knee
joints extended, would almost be hanumanasana (page 156).
Even though the front leg is externally rotated, this pose still requires a great deal of length
in muscles of external rotation such as the piriformis, obturator internus, and superior and
inferior gemellus. This is because these muscles are also hip extensors and abductors, and
the actions in the front leg are hip flexion and adduction—the more adducted the front
leg is, the more sensation will probably be felt in those muscles.
When the knee is more extended in the front leg (toward 90 degrees of flexion), the
rotation at the hip is greatly intensified. This action puts more pressure into the knee,
especially if there is restriction in the hip joint, and the knee is much more vulnerable to
twisting forces when at 90 degrees. The action in the feet and ankles can help to stabilize
and protect the knee.
Eka Pada Rajakapotasana Variation
Folded Forward
E5267/Kaminoff/fig8.8a/417739/alw/pulled-r2Piriformis Sciatic nerveEka Pada Rajakapotasana (continued)
Notes
This variation intensifies the actions in the hamstrings and other hip extensors (such as
the piriformis) of the front leg because of deeper hip flexion and more body weight over
the front leg. At the same time, it diminishes the actions in the back hip and in the spine.
This position is frequently used to “stretch” the piriformis muscle and the sciatic nerve.
When sciatic pain exists, however, it is not necessarily useful to stretch the sciatic nerve,
and the piriformis is not always responsible for sciatic pain. It may indeed be true that doing
this asana often helps relieve this pain, but it’s more likely that the mobilization of the hips
and pelvis and the effects on all the muscles of the lower body are responsible.